Ghosts of the Past
by RFTA
Summary: PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED DANGAN RONPA 2. Sometimes, we can't let go of the past, even when we know that holding on is only causing pain.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Dangan Ronpa series or any of it's characters.

Ghosts of the Past.

Nagito threw his head back, the sound of his screams only emerging as a muffled cry as he swiped the knife across his left hand.

_This is all for the sake of hope. _

Tightening his grip on the knife, Nagito focused all of his attention on the pain from the various self-inflicted wounds over his body. It was less painful than dwelling on his thoughts, from that irritating and long unheard inner voice telling him that he didn't really have to go through with this. Nagito hadn't second-guessed a decision he'd made since he was a child and the flight he had been on was hijacked.

Nagito was an avid reader, and he had read many books where, just as an important character was about to be killed, they would lament their fate, their past regrets, and future hopes that would never be realised. Nagito had never liked that trope; he had never been able to identify with such characters. He had faced his own death before on more than one occasion, and had fully expected that he would not leave Jabberwock Island alive. Strange, now that time had come without a doubt, that he suddenly found himself gaining an unexpected understanding, and almost sympathy with those fictional characters, whom he had previously been more inclined to scorn.

His plan was simple enough – to create a scene where he would be poisoned, and ultimately killed by the "traitor". A person that Nagito had once thought to be a traitor to Hope's Peak Academy, and all the students, whom he revered as a symbol of hope. Such a person was troublesome, but they would surely be powerless in the light of the hope emitting from the real students, and Nagito had consequently dismissed the traitor as a threat.

Then Nagito had been given the profiles of all the students, and he had discovered the terrible truth that had ultimately set him on this path. Far from being the symbols of hope that he had always thought the other Hope's Peak Academy students to be; they were in fact the symbols of despair. His initial impulse had been to discard the profiles as a cruel prank by Monokuma, but Nagito had never been one to shy away from a truth because it didn't suit him. He remembered the look on Mikan's face as she tended him while he fought the Despair Fever; her words after she had been revealed as Ibuki and Hiyoko's killer, and he knew the truth. The people he had looked up to, the people that he would have happily killed or be killed for, were in fact part of the face of the one thing Nagito hated more than anything – Ultimate Despair.

That changed everything, if the students were despair, then surely the traitor must be hope? Nagito always considered himself to be useless, but if he could do something to help hope, then he would do it, no matter what the cost was to himself. He would save the hope, and eliminate the despair.

Nagito would have preferred to have known beyond all doubt whom the traitor was before he executed his plan, but he was confident that his luck would hold out, and it would be the traitor that threw the bottle holding the poison, ending his life. With the way he had set everything up, even the traitor would not know that they were the killer, and the trial would end with the wrong person being voted as the killer.

The Traitor would go free, and the rest of the students would be executed. And here lay the reason behind Nagito's state of emotional turmoil.

Hajime Hinata.

There had been something about Hajime that had intrigued Nagito right from the first time Nagito had first seen Hajime. Although Hajime had never said as much, Nagito felt they shared something; an admiration of Hope's Peak Academy, and the ideals represented by the school that the other students did not.

That alone would have been enough for Nagito to feel a bond with Hajime, but beyond that, Hajime showed an interest, and even liking for Nagito that Nagito had never experienced before.

Nagito had been a mistake, never wanted by his parents, and they had never let him forget that fact; his oldest memories were those of his parents, glaring at him, spitting out how much it cost to feed and clothe him, how he had ruined their lives, and should have never been born. It was from them that Nagito learned one of the three most important facts in his life; that he was worthless, talentless, and would never amount to anything, except to hold others back.

Nagito learned the second fact when the rock hit the plane, and Nagito was left alone in the world – the only thing he had, would ever have, was his extraordinary luck, both good and bad.

The third fact was that hope was the only thing Nagito could count on. That belief in hope, the only thing that sustained him during those episodes of bad luck, enveloped, and had eventually completely completely overtaken Nagito. Those very same deep seated beliefs had driven away any person around him. Nagito was fully aware that his behaviour and words alienated people, but he just couldn't give up those beliefs, the only thing that had kept him going.

Hajime though, he was different. Nagito had felt a genuine pang of regret, when he realised that Hajime was just as angry and disgusted with him as the rest of the students over the plan Nagito had made to start the murders, but despite that Hajime continued to speak to, and tried to understand Nagito. Hajime's attitude was always one of hostility, and Nagito could see that Hajime didn't understand Nagito's words, but it was an undeniable fact that Hajime hadn't dismissed Nagito completely.

Even learning that Hajime wasn't an Ultimate hadn't really changed Nagito's feelings; there was some disappointment on Nagito's side, as he had held Hajime in the same reverence as the other Hope's Peak Academy students, before Nagito had discovered their true nature, but the disappointment wasn't enough to change those deeper feelings, the experience of feeling for the first time that maybe there was someone that didn't despise him.

Nagito discounted the idea that Hajime was the traitor. Hajime was just like Nagito, talentless. A person like that, a person that hadn't made it to Hope's Peak Academy couldn't possibly be the traitor.

Hajime would be executed along with the rest of Ultimate Despair. Nagito wished, with his whole being that there was a way to avoid this fact, but it was inescapable. To destroy despair and save hope, Hajime would have to be executed.

Nagito screamed again as he impaled his right hand. He had no way of checking the time, but he knew it could not be long now; any time now his second video clip would be appearing on the laptop he had left next door in the factory, where the surviving students were undoubtedly trying in vain to defuse his fake bombs, and once the recording was done, the students would all rush to this warehouse, where the traitor would give Nagito the final reprieve from his twisted emotions.

The thought of the video clip on the laptop reminded Nagito of the third and final clip he had recorded; he had left the code to the ruins for whomever would survive the forthcoming trial. He had recorded it for both the traitor and the other students – as far as Nagito was concerned, this warehouse was where his role would end, and he saw no reason to continue withholding information, even if it was the traitor that was executed.

That final message had been the start of it, the start of long forgotten emotions insidiously creeping into Nagito's mind as he recorded the message, with the thought that by the time anyone listened to the message, Hajime may well be dead.

Nagito had finished his message by expressing his wish that he would one day be known as the Ultimate Hope. He had put a lock on the clip so that it would only play the day after the trial, and was about to leave the factory, when he suddenly realised there was something wet on his face. It was only then that Nagito had realised that he had started to cry; something that he couldn't remember ever doing before, even as a child. It didn't surprise him though.

Nagito stood in the factory for several long seconds. He knew that he didn't have to go through with his plan, that there was still time to go back, but eventually turned and walked away. To change his mind now would be to deny his very nature.

_Hajime..._

Nagito could hear voices outside the warehouse, where he lay injured, waiting for the end, though he couldn't make out the words.

_I am sorry._

The voices were still outside; though the words were still unintelligible it sounded like Akane was losing patience, her voice was getting noticeably louder.

_From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry._

The door creaked open, the Monokuma panels start falling over. Hajime yells at Akane about opening the door gently.

_Even though you're a nothing like me, I can't ask you to understand the feelings of refuse like myself. I know you tried to understand me, but it's impossible. _

A soft sound as the flames start to appear. The students outside the warehouse scream.

_I will always remember your kindness, and I truly wish things didn't have to happen this way._

There are sounds of a frantic discussion and running; the students have temporarily left to pick up the fire extinguishers.

_I can't change. Not even for the only person that's ever had any time for me. Hope and Luck are the core of my being. Hope is the only thing I believe in. It's the only thing that I live for. I won't give that up, because..._

More noise from the doorway, the students have returned with the fire extinguishers A few more seconds, and everything will be over.

_I am Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student. _

The poisoned fire extinguisher breaks, filling the air with poison gas. As Nagito inhales, his body automatically convulses, loosing his grip on the spear. As his vision faded into darkness, the last thing he sees is the spear falling towards him.

_I'm sorry, Hajime._


End file.
